Insecurity outfit Sophos has named and shamed the identities of the Koobface malware gang.

Sophos said that the gang is made up of Anton Korotchenko, Alexander Koltyshev, Roman Koturbach, Syvatoslav Polinchuk, and Stanislav Avdeiko. SophosLabs malware expert Dirk Kollberg and independent researcher Jan Droemer worked with an extensive team across the industry.

Koobface is an anagram of "Facebook" and spreads via social networking sites, infecting PCs and building a botnet of compromised computers. It is so sophisticated it can even create its own social networking accounts, so that it can aggressively post links helping it to spread further. The creators of Koobface, whose names have not been public until today, earn millions of dollars every year by compromising computers.

Droemer and Kollberg's research took place between October 2009 and February 2010, but the authorities requested that it be kept confidential to allow them the necessary time to build a case. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos said that the unmasking of the Koobface gang was an incredible detective story of tireless investigation. It involved scouring the internet, searching company records and taking advantage of schoolboy social networking errors made by the suspected criminals, their friends and family. "We know the gang's names, their phone numbers, where their office is, what they look like, what cars they drive, even their mobile phone numbers," he said. "Now we have to wait and see what, if any, action the authorities will take against the Koobface gang."

South Korean police have locked up five people who teamed up with North Korean hackers to steal millions of dollars in points from online gaming sites.

Another nine people have been released while more inquires are made. All have been charged that they worked with North Koreans to hack gaming sites in the South.

The gang members worked in China and shared profits after they sold programs that allowed users to rack up points without actual play, police said. The points were later exchanged for cash through sites where players trade items to be used for their avatars. The police said the gang made about $6m (£3.7m) over the last year and a half. North Korean hackers were asked to join the alleged scheme because they were good at their jobs and could skirt national legal boundaries.

The Korea Computer Centre, Pyongyang's IT research venture, was the main culprit. Set up in 1990, the centre has 1,200 experts developing computer software and hardware for North Korea.

The National Intelligence Service, South Korea's spy agency, was heavily involved in the investigation, the police said. Investigators think that the hackers' so-called "auto programs" also piggy backed North Korean cyberattacks.